Karnataka MLA admits role in cash-for-bail scam

July 31, 2012 20:47 IST

A Rs 20 crore deal was struck to secure bail for former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhan Reddy, who was arrested in connection with the iron ore mining scam, according to state Member of Legislative Assembly Suresh Babu.

The revelations come in the wake of Babu's arrest by the Anti-Corruption Bureau on Monday.

According to the remand diary submitted before the court by the ACB on Tuesday, Suresh Babu admitted that he paid a bribe of Rs 9.5 crore to Central Bureau of Investigation court's Judge Patthabi Rama Rao and another Rs 5 crore to Yadgiri Rao, who played the role of mediator.

Suresh Babu, a MLA from Kampli in Karnataka, said that as per the deal, Rs 5 crore each was to be shared by Judge Patthabi Rama Rao, former judge Chalapati Rao and Yadgiri. The remaining amount was meant for court expenses.

ACB, which had arrested Suresh Babu on Monday, produced him in the court. The legislator was remanded to judicial custody till August 14.

Suresh Babu, who along with Gali Janardhan Reddy's brother and MLA Gali Somashekhar Reddy was summoned by the ACB, surrendered to the agency.

Earlier, while talking to the media, he had denied any links with the cash-for-bail scam.

But ACB told the court that he had admitted handing over the money to Yadgiri in a hotel in Hyderabad. He also admitted that he was an old friend of the Gali brothers and he also knew Dasrath Rami Reddy, another relative of Gali implicated in the bail scam.

Suresh Babu told the ACB that he had visited Gali Janardhan Reddy in jail several times and the former minister had asked him to arrange a bail at any cost. He said he and Somashekhar Reddy had taken the responsibility to secure the bail.

Reddy is yet to appear before the CBI. He has already moved an anticipatory bail application in the court. The agency has sounded an alert at all the airports, fearing that he may try to flee abroad.

The ACB has already arrested three suspended judges, one retired judge, Patthabi's son Ravichand, real estate dealer R Surya Prakash Rao and Dasrath Rami Reddy in connection with the case.